THE effects of a recent stress fracture were evident as Loughborough’s Paula Radcliffe struggled in Sunday’s Olympic marathon, finishing 23rd in an emotional race.

World record holder Radcliffe, who has only recently recovered from a stress fracture to her left thigh which had threatened to prevent her competing, began the race well and crossed the 25km mark in second place in a time of 1:28.50 before dropping down the order in the latter stages, finishing in 2:32.38.

Radcliffe pulled up briefly with cramp in her calf during the race.

“It was really sore,” she said. “At one point I stopped to stretch it out, but it came back. It wasn't a sharp pain. I felt like I was running on one leg. I had to stretch for any chance of carrying on.”

“I knew I was pushing it to come here,” she said. “But I would have done all that hard work for nothing if I hadn’t got to the finish line. I am still keeping my fingers crossed for 2012.”

Former Loughborough-based runner Liz Yelling was leading the race after 10km, but dropped into the twenties by halfway before consolidating to finish just three places behind team-mate Radcliffe.